About Us
Dira Atelier
Dira Atelier is a workshop studio dedicated to providing women with fine clothing, portraying a unique and modest sense of style while living fully with confidence and grace.
Dira Atelier designs are our attempt to merge the modesty in the way we dress with a little sophistication. The women we want to dress are the ones who yearn for greatness, insist on giving and getting the best out of life, and are not afraid of working hard to find their place in this universe. We know those women are alive in all of us.
As rewarding as this effort is, there is something still more central to us, and that is to help others in need. To link Dira Atelier with a larger purpose, we committed to the vision of creating beautiful clothes to support a beautiful cause. Ten percent or more of Dira Atelier proceeds are donated to the GiveLight Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami to give shelter, education and dreams to orphans around the world.
Our name
The name "Dira Atelier" was formed by combining the first two names of the co-founders, Dian and Kiera, to create "Dira" and adding the French word for workshop/studio. "Dira" is also a French word meaning "will speak" and for the founders, this design studio is a way to give voice to the inner beauty that underlies the lives and achievements of our friends and customers.
Our Logo
Our logo was created through the artistic rendering in calligraphy of the word "Dira" in Arabic script, modifying the classic Deewani style of calligraphy practiced throughout the Islamic world. The graceful curves of the calligraphy echo the feminine lines of many Dira Atelier designs, and suggest the crescent moon symbolic of Islam. The Latin script of our company name completes the logo, signifying the combined Islamic/Western heritage of the founders, our clothing designs, and the world of our daily lives.
Dian Alyan
Mouse over the picture to see what Dian is wearing.
Khadija Kebaya. Click on picture to see the product description.
Those who are close to me know that I have always loved to dress well. The first thing I did after I quit my corporate job at Procter & Gamble was to spend one summer in Paris to study art and fashion. During that time I visited many couture houses that created amazingly beautiful clothes -- but the clothes were not designed with me or other Muslim women in mind.
When I left Paris that summer, I dreamt that one day I would create beautiful clothes for women who are like me - who, more than anything else in this world desire to get closer to Allah SWT. One of the manifestations of that desire is to dress modestly. I dreamt of creating a clothing line that allows us to confidently assert our Islamic identity in the context of our lives as American Muslims.
Now, by the grace of Allah SWT, that dream is coming true and in a way that both supports and challenges me in my daily roles, as mother of two young boys, wife, outreach director for the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, California, and founder of the GiveLight Foundation.
Kiera Benidettino
Mouse over the picture to see what Kiera is wearing.
Shazia Silk Gown. Click on picture to see the product description.
Grace. Direction. Purpose in life. All these things come together for me when I wear one of our designs, as in this photo with my family, taken after an Eid prayer during an Islamic observance. I find a spillover effect in my corporate executive position as well, and while serving on the school board for one of the largest Islamic schools in North America.
Launching Dira Atelier is a dream come true. It is a wonderful chance to answer a personal quest to present myself in a professional, fashionable way compatible with my Islamic identity. But it is more than that. It also offered a way to show my three daughters that it is possible to do something you love, to dream and make that dream real, and to direct your talents to fill a larger destiny, with the grace of Allah SWT.
I had little idea that meeting Dian would trigger creation of Dira Atelier, but once voiced, the idea was unstoppable. We would make a positive difference in our community and be connected with the widening global support of orphans by the GiveLight Foundation.